Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Comming and going

Mayor McCool's Built like Delaware has been deconstructed but he is back better than ever at Pardon My Zinger. He even found an intersting definition of Skrep.

(NOTE: Both of these sites have been cybersquatted and are dead as of January 2008; see this post for the latest news.)

If your interested check out People Against Wilkes-Barre Security Cameras.

Nanticoke News pulls stories about Naticoke from the local papers.

Kayak Dude spends some time on the river and is oppossed to the inflatable dam. Read his insights at Susquehanna River Sentinel.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Reports on the get-together

Did you miss the exciting bloggers' gathering at Mark's Pub in in Wilkes-Barre? Did you attend and wish you had something to help you recall the events of that afternoon? Fear not! Here are some of the reports, filed by the people who were there! (If you were there and have a report, please let us know.)

As reported by Dave Yonki in the Lu Lac Edition #103

Through the eyes of John Morgan of The Pennsylvania Progressive
From the keyboard of Another Monkey
An account from Wilkes-Barre Online (with pictures!)
Gort's Post Game Report

See you next time, maybe!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Calling all bloggers

The next meeting of the Saturday OT Committee and Operatic Society is scheduled for this Saturday 4PM at Marks Pub 1287 N Washington St, Wilkes-Barre (map it). Pope George Ringo has extended an invitation to all bloggers, commenters and readers to join us.

Michael G. Rennie the Unofficial Social Secretary of the Northeast Blogging Council informs me that he's received many definate maybes from area bloggers that are intending to attend. Our last meetup in May was a runaway success resulting in no hospitalizations or arrests. We even had a state rep candidate show up and this time we may have a few past and future candidates for public office. So clear your schedules and join us.

Mark of Wilkes-Barre Online put together a slideshow of our local madmen.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Sidebar updated at last

I finally managed to update the sidebar with all the nifty sites Gort has listed in the previous few posts. I also included three that were mentioned in an e-mail I just received from writer, artist, photographer, and blogger Kelly Gibbons. Check out Kelly Gibbons (her main site), Not Quite Grown-Up (her blog), and Dallas, Pennsylvania (The Other Dallas), which is about...well, I'll let you figure that out on your own.

Now, please keep in mind that a listing here on NEPA Blogs does not indicate any sort of endorsement of or agreement with any of the opinions being expressed on a particular site. The goal of this site is the same as it has been since day one: to serve as "A clearinghouse providing links to blogs and other sites about Northeastern Pennsylvania or by people from Northeastern Pennsylvania". If you know of any blogs that should be linked from this site, please let us know!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Strong opinions

I have an interest in rhetorical bomb throwers and rabble rousers. In that tradition a few local sites have popped up.

Welcome to Trail Creek Properties, Inc.Luzerne, PA

Luzerne Borough is looking for an apology from us before they will help with state assistance.Susan and I are being hostages of small town politics and unethical political practices. All we want is to reclaim our property and make it better than ever. But in small towns we end up dealing with personal agendas and roadblocks.

UnAmerican Luzerne County

Who am I? I am T. G.: citizen of the Earth, Wilkes-Barre resident, student, sometimes photographer, registered voter, US Army and Pennsylvania Army National Guard veteran and all-around okay guy (so I am told).

Doherty Deceit

This is a "For the People" Website

IT WAS CREATED FOR THE PEOPLE; TO GIVE THEM EYES, EARS AND VOICE IN CONFRONTING POLITICAL WRONGDOING IN OUR CITY BY THIS ADMINISTRATION
WE ARE SUFFERING UNDER ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPT MEN TO EVER BE MAYOR. I COULDN'T SAY THAT IF IT WEREN'T TRUE. THIS SITE EXPOSES HIS CORRUPTION AND LIES TO US.

What happened to Michelle?

Whenever I click on Michelle's Weblog the screen come up blank. I don't have her email address so I can't ask. If your out there let us know what's up.

NOTE: Michelle's back!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Blogs alive

I've been monitoring some blogs devoted to Wilkes-Barre politics. They were dormant for a while but have have come to life in the last few days. I've been reluctant to link to them at my place because they have been so sporadic. But they are NEPA blogs and deserve a listing. Content people. You can't post 3 days in a row, then take a month off and expect people to read you. Here's the list:

W-B Citizens On Line

Wilkes-Barre Political Scene

Wilkes-Barre Politics

Wilkes Barre Taxpayers (Dead site)

I'm focused on the election next Tuesday but these sites are looking forward to 2007. After the mid-terms I will start to weigh in on local issues and candidates. Not so much W-B as the county races. Welcome to the circus.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Late Night Meanderings

Yay, another NEPA blog! Late Night Meanderings is written by "An Old Throwback To The Sixties" who pretty freely identifies himself as...well, I'll let you find that out for yourself, but I knew him from his local radio and television appearances. It's full of photos and essays about the beauty of Northeastern PA. Check it out!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Wilkes-Barre Politics

I did another blogsearch today and came across the Wilkes-Barre Politics blog. I don't think it's one we've got on the list yet, so I'll add it.

I found a way to search, say, all Blogspot blogs for any references to a given term. All I had to do was type in a string of search tems that included the item of interest and specified the site or sies I want to look at. So to search all Blogspot blogs for references to Nanticoke, I could type in the string nanticoke site:*.blogspot.com. I suppose this will work for MySpace and LiveJournal and all sorts of other sites. We'll give it a shot!

Update: Ooops. Hit the jackpot on MySpace. Too many to add. I'll see if I can find a way of firing off a message inviting them to submit their blogs, if they have them.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Links added

I've added links to the two Dave Yonki blogs Gort mentioned in the previous post, as well as to the Dallas-based QAZSE poetry blog. I was able to run Firefox for a few minutes this morning and checked out the post-flood links that I had collected. Unfortunately, it looks like many of those bloggers have moved on, or were never really about NEPA in the first place.

I tried doing a search in Blogger for bloggers from the NEPA area. What I came up with were a few registered bloggers without blogs, and a whole bunch of blogs that petered out in 2004. Then I tried to use the Blogger search function to find blogs that mention places in NEPA, but it looks like Blogger has decided to make this a more expansive sort of search function: instead of just searching within blogs, it searches all websites for any mention of keywords. Thanks, but that's not what I'm trying to do.

So. Colleges will be back in session in a few weeks, probably bringing a small army of relocated bloggers to the area. I should really get around to posting those "Are you a Blogger?" ads.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

The Yonk has a couple of blogs


And he has some interesting friends.

Longtime radio guy David Yonki has 2 blogs I recently became aware of. The first is devoted to his literary efforts with the appropriate title of AUTHOR: DAVID YONKI.

The other is The Lu Lac Political Letter devoted to PA and national politics. He also throws in whatever else that is on his mind.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Tracks and Tapes and Thoughts and Things

Tim Pintsch responded to the Call For Bloggers! post:
Tim Pintsch said...

Hey, I live in Hanover and have a blog, omg :-) http://pintsch.org/blog

4:17 PM, July 01, 2006
And so, leaping into action one week later, here is his blog:
Tracks and Tapes and Thoughts and Things

I've actually known about this blog for a while, as I've seen it linked a bunch of times on Chloe's Watermelon Punch. Not sure why I didn't list it before, aside from the usual I-never-got-around-to-it reason. Check it out!

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Flushing out the Bloggers of NEPA

I haven't edited the NEPA Blogs template to add Dr. Tara yet - I will shortly. But first...

I was thinking of doing a compilation of all of the NEPA Blogs bloggers' entries on the flood of '06. But then I realized that that's the whole point of the sidebar: you can click on each blogger individually and see what they are saying about this event that is affecting all of us. Then I thought about it some more, and realized that this would be a prime time to search for more NEPA Bloggers, since many people would be being affected by this event and blogging about it.

The flaw in this plan is that there are as many people from outside the area blogging about the flooding in Wilkes-Barre and NEPA in general as there are bloggers from NEPA doing it. So while it's cool to see New Orleans bloggers pointing their fingers at Wilkes-Barre and saying, "Look at them! They're smart! They built a levee designed to hold the worst flood they ever had! They invested in it! Why didn't we do that?" *, it doesn't help me find more bloggers who are blogging away here in glorious NEPA.

Still, I found a bunch. I'll get to adding them soon. Sometime after I add Dr. Tara!

*Actually, here's a direct quote: "What's fascinating is that three years ago, Wilkes-Barre decided to raise their levees from 36 feet up to 41 feet. That looks like a brilliant infrastructure investment right now, because that extra 5 feet averted catastrophe."

Friday, June 23, 2006

Dr Tara

Dr. Tara's Thoughts & Ideas, etc...

She has just finished pharmacy school and keeps us updated on local happenings. She has a special interest in the Hugo Selenski case. Check her out.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Wyoming Valley Photos, and goodbye to Dr. Rick

I'm back. I apologize for my absence - if you've been following my adventures on Another Monkey, you know I've been a little busy buying a house. But that's done now, so before I get a lot busy restoring the house, here's some new business for NEPA Blogs:

I came across another local blog last weekend. Wyoming Valley Photos delivers what it promises - photos from the Wyoming Valley. Just a warning: this is a photo-intense blog, so make sure your computer and your connection are up to the task.

On a sadder (and very belated) note, Dr. Rick has taken down The American Check-Up. He actually did this several weeks ago. You can read all about it on Gort's Gort42 - the initial announcement is here, and a follow-up message from Dr. Rick is here.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Broadcast news

I stumbled across the blog of a local TV type by the name of Jennifer Wade.

Jennifer D. Wade Journal

I work as a broadcast journalist at a local television station. I'm mostly behind the scenes, but watch closely. You might catch a glimpse once in a while

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Belated change of status for a NEPA Blogger

It's been ten days since the Seaslug of Doom, blogger of The Speaking Sisyphus Stone, packed his things and departed NEPA for the wilds of California. While I do not believe he was originally from NEPA, I have moved his blog into the "BLOGGERS ORIGINALLY FROM NEPA" section of the sidebar, a fate that awaits any blogger who dares to depart the loving embrace of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Hey, once a NEPA Blogger, always a NEPA Blogger.

Good luck out there, dude. And keep the mall reports coming! I think there may be a book there...

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Adding a whole big pile of blogs

I'm back, after having dedicated most of my blogging energy to reporting on my visit to Ireland and London on my own blog, Another Monkey. There are many blogs to be added to NEPA Blogs that have accumulated since I left, so let's get started!

First off, The Lady Speaks has a new address. I think I'll also retain the old location until it no longer functions.

Electric City Renaissance is a blogsite focusing on things in and around Scranton.

Kermit the Blog is actually already linked from this site under the name of its author, Dave Caolo. Dave is the "Scranton Insider" for the site "Life in The Office".

The Nittany Notebook is a blog about Penn State's Nittany Lions written by Alex Grier, formerly of Scranton.

Shadow's Reach and History's Shadow are two blogs written by Scranton blogger Shadowspun.

Things At King's is written by Father Tom Carten of King's College. I've met Father Tom through my sister, who used to be a D.J. at WRKC. You may know Father Tom from the Radio Home Visitor, the WRKC radio program where he reads selected bits of the newspaper as a service for the blind. You may also know him by the secret identity he uses to write a weekly column for the Citizen's Voice!

Still haven't gotten around to posting the NEPA Blogs notices...but I've got some ideas there.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Call for Bloggers!

Here's a form I just put together. I'm planning to post copies in local bookstores, record stores, libraries - anywhere I can that has a bulletin board. Anybody have any suggestions?

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Kermit the Blog

Another former area resident has a blog and is looking for info on the St. Pats parade.


Kermit the Blog

So here's my request to you, dear Scrantonians. I want your reports from the parade. Photos, videos, cameraphone snaps, your reports, podcasts, anything. Pictures of you with green beer at Farley's. Eating a green bagel on Wyoming Avenue. The Scranton cop who arrested you for jumping on a float. Anything. The weather man says 60 degrees on Saturday, so it should be great. Send whatever you have to me at this address so that I may post it here, and create great a Scranton Parade Super Page with all your stuff. Sound good? Good. Now have a corned beef and cabbage for me.

NOTE: Dead site as of 1/23/08

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Electric City Renaissance

The Electric City Renaissance (ECR), a single stop for information on the events, people and perspectives that make up the Scranton area. ECR's blog format features a comprehensive roundup of what's going on in Scranton on a daily basis; profiles of area residents; and local opinions on movies, music and restaurants.

D.B. Echo on vacation

I'm going to be on vacation in Ireland until the third week of March - you can follow my adventures at Another Monkey. I leave NEPA Blogs in Gort's capable hands. And if anybody has anything they want to see linked, just post it in a comment!

I have some plans for the blog when I get back. I didn't want to do anything that might result in a flurry of site submissions before I left, since I won't be able to add sites while I'm away. But when I get back I want to do a grassroots advertising blitz, canvassing the area for local bloggers. We'll see how that works out!

Sunday, February 19, 2006

The Old Cat Lady Spooks

The Old Cat Lady from The Old Cat Lady Speaks has taken up the challenge of creating a blog focusing on NEPA monsters, myths, legends, and lore. Check it out at The Old Cat Lady's Stories! And be sure to submit any stories you may have!

The Old Cat Lady and several others have pointed out the book Weird Pennsylvania, by the people who brought you Weird N.J. and Weird U.S. I actually bought this book shortly after it came out, and was disappointed to see that it had skipped over things like The Secret of Olyphant in favor of reprinting large sections of Weird U.S. about abandoned asylums in the Philadelphia area. The book has a brief Afterword that is a challenge to readers: if you know of any stories that should have been included in the book but weren't, contact the authors and they'll see about including them in the next edition.

So this is our chance! John Peruka, I'm lookin' at you! The Secret of Olyphant, that weirdest of places in weird Pennsylvania, can be made known nationally! Submit what you've got to The Old Cat Lady's Stories, and maybe we can see it in the next edition of the book!

And if anyone has a good story of the Suscon Screamer, or the B'Gunk, or any of the other spooky stuff that goes on here in NEPA, be sure to submit that too!

For my part, I think I should make a note to be sure to photograph a certain branch of a certain tree over a certain grave in a certain cemetery this Fall. The grave is that of a girl who drowned in the Nanticoke high school's pool shortly after it was opened, and the leaves on the branch are always crimson, even though the rest of the leaves on the tree are gold...

Monday, February 13, 2006

NEPA monsters, legends, and lore

Every part of the world has its own legends and lore, myths and monsters. Northeastern Pennsylvania is no different. John Peruka has sought to publicize the "Secret of Olyphant", which you should probably hear about in his own words. Just last week I learned of the "Suscon Screamer" a fierce half-wolf / half-pig that haunts the area of Suscon Bridge, not far from the Grimes Industrial Park and the Pittston FedEx office. There is a spot in Scranton where, I am told, if you flash your headlights three times the devil-worshippers will come out to get you. (I don't know if these are the same illiterate devil worshippers and/or slaves to fashion who spray-painted "WORSHIP SATIN" at the Nay Aug Zoo back in 1985.) And, of course, there's the B'Gunk, a swamp monster who haunts the wilds of Glen Lyon. (The only way to get away from him, I am told, is to shout his name three times while running for your life: "B'Gunk! B'Gunk! B'GUNK!")

There are stories like this everywhere, and there are plenty of them here in NEPA. But what we don't have is a single coherent repository for all of the stories of ghosts and monsters, devil-worshippers and UFO's, local characters and local connections to the pyramids of Egypt. It's time somebody took care of that. I'm sure there's somebody out there who would be willing to write this stuff down. Why not write it up as a blog? Blogger.com offers the space for free, and it takes five minutes to get started. And I'll be sure to link you from NEPA Blogs!

So, what are you waiting for? Get started, and send me a link!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Old Cat Lady Speaks

Another Nanticoke blogger! NANTICOKE RUELZZZZ! TROJANS! TROJANS! TROJANS!

Sorry.

The Old Cat Lady herself submitted her blog, The Old Cat Lady Speaks. Check it out!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Three more local blogs

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre At The Movies

This purpose of this blog is to put together a virtual list/collection of memorable (if fleeting) references to the cities of Wilkes-Barre, PA or Scranton, PA in movies/TV/music/Broadway (in the script, setting, lyrics, etc).

Michelle's Weblog

I am obviously still working on my blog to get it back to what it was. I was attacked by comment spammers and after searching google apparently greymatter (the blogging software I was using) was extremely vulnerable to it. I have upgraded to Wordpress now. So comment spammers eat shit and die!!

The Lady Speaks

News, Chat, and Rant from the middle of Nowhere
The PA-Lady
Location:Little Bitty Town, Northeastern Pennsylvania, United States

Friday, February 03, 2006

Adding Fewl.net

Jim said...

I'm originally from Wilkes-Barre, but deployed overseas with the US Military. Growing up in the NEPA area always drove me nuts, but now my visits back home can never come soon enough.

I run Fewl.net, a personal blog. Since I'm a NEPA native, and still vote there, can you add me?

Sure thing, Jim! Glad to have you onboard!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Adding Ranzino.com

Former NEPA resident Brian found NEPA Blogs by way of former NEPA resident Dave Caolo's blog, and posted a comment letting us know about his blog. Go check out Ranzino.com!

If you're from NEPA, or used to live in NEPA, or would like to live in NEPA, drop us a line (or a comment) and we'll add you to the NEPA Blogs roster! Otherwise, we're just gonna have to come lookin' for you...

Saturday, January 28, 2006

NEPA ExPats: Bloggers formerly from NEPA

The "Scranton Insider" on the "Life In The Office" blog is Dave Caolo. Formerly from NEPA, now residing in Cape Cod, check out his Kermit the Blog.

Finding information about NEPA online is easy. Finding bloggers from NEPA is a little harder. Finding bloggers who were originally from NEPA but are now somewhere else is even harder! If you are or know of any NEPA expatriate bloggers, let me know!

Life In The Office

When I first heard that the U.S. version of the popular British TV series The Office was going to be set in Scranton, I was filled with trepidation. The original series was set in Slough, England, which is portrayed (or so I am told, I have never seen the original) as the most miserable, depressing place to live and work in all of England. Scranton has long had a similar reputation - mostly unjustified. Would the new series portray Scranton and all of NEPA as a miserable, depressing place?

Apparently not. While I have also never seen an episode of the U.S. version of The Office (who has time for TV, with all this blogging?), most of the people who work in my office who are regular viewers find the show a lot of fun, generously sprinklied with local references.

Life In The Office is a blog about the U.S. version of The Office. Check it out!

Saturday, January 21, 2006

The Speaking Sisyphus Stone

OK, one more NEPA Blog and I'm calling it a night. This is The Speaking Sisyphus Stone by the Seaslug Of Doom. Check out the photos!

theblackcloud.com

It's a lot easier to find sites about NEPA than it is to find blogs by people from NEPA. And while I'm trying to be inclusive and non-judgmental, I'm reluctant to load up the sidebar with links to blogs of the "wOoT! U R teh BOM!" variety.

So, slogging through a Blog Search on the acronym "NEPA" and filtering out all those referring to the National Environmental Protection Act or the Nude Elbonian Penguin Admirers or other unrelated groups, as well as all those hits for this blog site or other sites that we've already linked, I finally came across a new one: Lee Ann's theblackcloud.com!

I'm thinking of posting a call for blogsites in the local record and book stores, and maybe even sending a letter to the local newspapers. I wonder if they'd print it?

Speaking of Physicists from NEPA...

Wilkes-Barre native William Daniel Phillips was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. I seemed to remember that - how could I forget such a thing - but completely forgot his name.

This tidbit of information is courtesy of the Wikipedia entry on the "Coal Region", which is a subsection of NEPA. (NEPA doesn't have its own Wikipedia entry, but instead redirects you to the Coal Region entry.)

Agnes in Norteastern Pennsylvania

I was thrashing around the internet looking for a blog site I came across by accident a few months ago that lists books and movies set in NEPA when I accidentally found Agnes in Northeastern Pennsylvania, a site about the 1972 tropical storm and the destruction it brought to Northeastern PA.

Agnes in Northeastern Pennsylvania has an extensive collection of links. Rather than copy them, I'm just providing a link to their links page!

Two famous scientists from NEPA

There are at least two world-famous scientists who were born in this area. One was Wlkes-Barre's David Bohm, a quantum physicist and one of Senator Joseph McCarthy's many victims. His career survived the McCarthy era, but only after he removed himself from the United States. He died in 1992 in London, leaving behind a huge body of work.

The other famous scientist is actually an actor playing the part of scientist - a scientist who could build a radio out of a coconut but couldn't figure out how to patch a two-foot hole on a boat. Russell Johnson, who achieved worldwide fame as The Professor on Gilligan's Island, was born in Ashley. Perhaps like James Doohan - Star Trek's Scotty - Russell Johnson's Professor was responsible for creating interest in his character's field of expertise among impressionable young kids - especially the ones who wouldn't mind being stranded on a desert island with the likes of Ginger and Mary Ann.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Two more local blogs

I think this guy is an area resident because he comments on the Wilkes- Barre crime wave. He has many observations on the absurdities of modern life at People Say Stupid Things.

Built like Delaware is written by a local college student who uses the handle Mayor McCool has a mix of his favorite babes, movie reviews, pop culture, politics and much more.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Adding Beale's Bites

I am adding Beale's Bites: One Person's Uncensored Look at the News in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

This link was stolen from webster107.

I'm going to be doing a bit more blog harvesting - stealing links from local blogs to other local blogs, even seeing if I can follow local commenters on local blogs to their profiles and then on to any blogs they might have. But if anyone has any NEPA blogsites (or other NEPA sites) that they'd like linked, please drop me a line or post a comment!

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Nanticoke

Nanticoke is my hometown. I was going to write a post collecting all sorts of information on Nanticoke, but then I remembered that I already did that for Another Monkey. So I'm just stealing from myself and reprinting the post (with some trims and edits) here.

For a city as small as it is, there are quite a few websites about Nanticoke. Here's a sampling:

The Official City of Nanticoke web page.

The unofficial Home Page for Nanticoke Online. 9,082,000 square kilometers of land? I don't think so. If our city were a square, each side would be over 3000 kilometers long! I think they meant square meters. Maybe.

The Greater Nanticoke Area School District web site, complete with an interactive map of our schools. Kosciuszko Street used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only street where you could go from Kindergarten through the second year of college (at Luzerne County Community College, a.k.a. L.C.C.C., a.k.a. the University of Nanticoke) without ever having to leave the street.

Here's some general data on Nanticoke, here's some more detailed demographic data, and here's the equivalent of a "Mostly harmless" entry in an online encyclopedia.

Then there are tribute pages, like Capt'n Clint's Place, with antique photos of Nanticoke. The Nanticoke Historical Society has some more old photos here.
Here are even more old images. Here's a really nice page, with maps and a history. Middle Road is as old as the United States itself...? Wow!

In addition to Pete Gray, the One-Armed Wonder, Nanticoke has at least one other famous citizen: the actor Nick Adams.

k8, Rochelle, and Ben Folds Laundry

k8 (pronounced "Kate", not "Kay-Eight") is a local musician. Her music is reminiscent of Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls, but ultimately she sounds a lot like, well, k8. Her CD's are available at the Wilkes-Barre locations of local record store chain Joe Nardone's Gallery of Sound.

I first met k8 a few years ago at a now-closed local bar/restaurant where she was playing. I was delivering some posters that a graphic artist I know had printed up for an upcoming show in which they would both be playing. I stuck around for the show, and she was great. I've only heard her play a few times since then, but I always intend to see her more often.

Rochelle was k8's roommate at the time and was also at the show. I wound up hanging out with Rochelle, but spent a lot more time playing Scrabble with Rochelle's (very cute) mom while k8 played. (There was a Scrabble board varnished into the bar surface, and a big bowl of letters to play with.)

I only saw Ben Folds Laundry once while Rochelle was taking him for a walk. He died last year, but still somehow manages to maintain his blog from heaven. Go and check it out, and tell your friends that you were on the blogsite of a dead dog!

Warning: These are all MySpace sites, which means they are all resource hogs and will crash your computer if it isn't up to the task. I wouldn't recommend trying to open them all up at once!

Political blogs

We don't have many political bloggers in the area which is surprising as local politics is treated as a blood sport by many people. My inspiration to start a local political blog was Wilkes-Barre Online. Mark covers the politics of W-B and many other issues. Bill Fitz is a Kings College student who is active in the local Republican Party and gives his take at My Take. Another local Republican covers mostly national issues at The American Check-Up. From the Democratic side is hints, allegations and things left unsaid.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Two sites about NEPA

Anyone who has done some websearching about NEPA has probably come across Capt'n Clint's Place. The Capt'n has an extensive collection of links, as well as a huge collection of historical drawings and photographs.

While searching for the Capt'n's Place I came across nuangola.com, just one of many local websites focused on a specific community. It also has an extensive collection of links.

Some links to NEPA bloggers

So, may as well just dive in and start adding links to NEPA blog sites. We'll start with four. I'll be adding these to the sidebar in alphabetical order, showing regional affiliations where known.

Another Monkey: This is my blogsite. I'm based out of Nanticoke. I occasionally blog about the area, sometimes with photographic illustrations.

Gort42: This is run by Gort, out of Wilkes-Barre. It focuses a lot on local politics and regional issues.

Watermelon Punch: Chloe's website focuses a lot on the area. She also hosts and writes for the original NEPA Blog, as well as several other local sites. She is based in Scranton but ranges all over NEPA.

webster107: John Webster is half of the morning team of Daniels & Webster from Rock 107, a Scranton Classic Rock radio station. He is new to blogging, but hopefully he will persuade a few more folks from NEPA to start blogs!

Links to NEPA TV, radio, and newspapers

I was going to post links to all of the local newspapers and TV and radio stations. And then I accidentally discovered that the heavy lifting had already been done for my by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania! The "Virtual Newsstand" section of the site shows a map that divides Pennsylvania into seven sections of varying size. Their version of Northeastern PA extends West for nearly half the state! Clicking on this map brings up lists of links to newspapers and TV and radio stations for that section of the state. Rather than posting links to each individual newspaper and station, I am simply posting links to these list pages!

(I just noticed that the radio links are pretty spotty, missing stations like WEZX - Rock 107 - and WVIA, our local NPR affiliate. I will need to add these stations individually!)

The archives of the original NEPA Blog

The original NEPA Blog is a group blog by and about Northeastern Pennsylvania. (I was not a part of this group.) Unlike this site, it is a blog with content, not just links. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing it has not had any additions since May of 2005. I am posting a link to the complete NEPA Blog archives, which extend back to June 2002. If you're looking for street-level information about NEPA, this is a good place to start!

Welcome to NEPA Blogs!

Welcome to NEPA Blogs, a clearinghouse and link site for blogs and other websites about Northeastern Pennsylvania, or by folks from Northeastern Pennsylvania. This isn't an original concept, or even an original name. Hopefully, it will serve its function well.

First off, let's define where Northeastern Pennsylvania is. This seems like a pretty straightforward question, but definitions vary widely - I recently saw a "Map of Northeastern Pennsylvania" that treated Nanticoke as the southwestern boundary! For me, I define NEPA as being a region generally north of Interstate 80 and east of an imaginary line extending north from the point where I-80 crosses the Susquehanna. This definition would include Berwick, but would exclude Hazleton - so we'll modify it to include Hazleton and surrounding communities. It also excludes Bloomsburg, but I think Bloomsburg can be safely thought of as "East Central PA." Still, these are fuzzy boundaries, and are subject to change.

There. Technical definition out of the way. Now, what is the purpose of this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to provide a link site for as many blogs and websites as I can find that are about NEPA or by people from NEPA. This site won't be about content; it will point you to content on other sites. Not just blogs, either - radio and TV stations, newspapers, historical sites, city sites, and fansites for Miss Judy's Hatchy Milatchy and Uncle Ted's Ghoul School - whatever I can find!

It will take me some time to just insert all the links I already know about. I don't plan to do this alone - I intend to extend invitations to other local bloggers to help me build this. If you want to come on board, or want to submit some links, e-mail me or post a comment!